Skype to start charging for iPhone VoIP

Skype has launched a new iPhone version, enabling calls over the 3G data network, but come 2011 users will be expected to start paying for those calls too.

Skype-to-Skype calls over Wi-Fi will remain free, along with Skype over the fixed internet, but if you're expecting free VoIP over your 3G connection (without a premium charge) then you'll have to think again (or just download a copy of Fring or similar).

Skype's pricing remains to be seen: Skype hasn't responded to our request for more information and the details won't emerge until the end of the year, but a monthly subscription split with the network operator seems the most likely model for the application that Steve Jobs himself said wouldn't be welcome on the iPhone.

Voice is still the cash cow for the operators, by a considerable margin. Data traffic might clog up their networks, but voice is what pays for everything and mobile VoIP threatens that revenue. So as long as Apple was beholden to the operators such applications remained verboten on the iPhone at least.

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